ABC News Chief: Trump "Reinvigorated Journalism'

James Goldston

Major media outlets make no secret that the election of Donald Trump as president has been good for business as the TV ratings and online reach of 24-hour cable news networks soars.

But, according to The Hollywood Reporter, ABC News chief James Goldston on Tuesday made a surprising admission about the U.S. leader during a keynote address to the Banff World Media Festival — Trump has overseen a renaissance of journalism in America.

"This [Trump] administration has given us a true clarity of purpose about what we do as journalists every day. He has single-handedly shaken up journalism, he has reinvigorated journalism," declared Goldston, before adding, "It feels like a new golden age."

The network exec conceded Trump's infamous comments about "fake news" and branding the press as the "enemy of the people" were having a corrosive effect on how Americans viewed the media. "I don't think we can pretend this talk of fake news doesn't have an impact. It has an impact," he said.

Trump has included ABC News in his attacks on media organizations as purveyors of fake news, and former ABC News correspondents, executives and producers earlier petitioned Goldston and fellow top network execs to take a firm stand against any Trump administration effort to curtail press access.

Goldston even admitted to earlier envy towards his media rivals when Trump first made his infamous Feb. 17 tweet that rebuked the "fake news media" as "SICK!"

"I had two reactions to this tweet. The first was that's an extraordinary statement. And the second was, what about ABC News?" Goldston recalled. His good fortune was Trump took down his first tweet and replaced it an hour later with a re-post that included "@ABC" alongside The New York Times, NBC News, CBS and CNN.

"He retweeted to say we were also an enemy of the American people," a beaming Goldston told the Banff audience.